RisslingsMissingTeeth wrote:As this all resolves out, I can't believe just how pleased I am with everything. Everyone is saying the right words and all that, but more than anything, just knowing that Burkle and Lemieux were not blind and saw all of the things the fans saw clearly in front of them that Shero and Dan were completely blind to.

I can root for this team. I like this team more now than I have in the past several years.

Pens4Life wrote:Dont expect Penguins to be flyin around on MJ notes from the start,they will need time to adjust. I dont care in MJ first season and especially first months,we wont be among top 5 teams in the league. Im hoping to see the best of Pens in march and april. Also I dont expect SC in first season. Give him a break for a while..

If they were that concerned about the first 6 months of the season, Bylsma would still be around. It's the last 2+ months that matter.

One of my biggest hopes is that the new coach can get the most out of Letang and he lives up to his potential (and contract). Imagine that.

Imagine a world where the young players can earn and keep a spot.

Line matching... imagine what it will look like. Crosby and Malkin being put in advantageous situations instead of throwing Crosby's skull out there every shift with Mark Staal's clubbin stick waiting on the ice. I also don't think a team with Tocchet on the bench would do absolutely nothing about that whole "our captain is getting jacked in the head" situation playoffs or not. You don't have to go nuts and take a ton of penalties but you can do a LOT of things within the rules (or close enough to them) to send a message. Even bringing it up in a press conference would be SOMETHING.

I'm expecting an adjustment period and I think most of us will be OK with that... but I think they will be up to speed before mid season.

They still have elite talent which can get you through the early part of the season without falling out of the playoff race.

>>Hi all. Longtime Portland resident here, Pens fan, Winterhawks fan. I noticed there's been a lot of weird information floating around this sub prior to the press conference. I understand that--your news has come from Rossi or from scattered people who haven't watched a lot of WHL hockey. That said, here are a couple of things to remember or learn:MJ isn't just a career WHL coach. He spent almost a decade as an assistant coach with the Canucks and the Kings before coming to Portland.As the GM and coach, he built the Winterhawks from the ground up. I'm not kidding--the year before he arrived, our record was 11-58. His second year, it was 44-25. The four years after that were four trips to the WHL Final.The suspension is GM stuff. Not to be cavalier, but I'm not sure it matters. Like MJ said, it happened early on in his WHL career.The idea that MJ is just a player's coach. Not actually true--he's a strong Xs and Os guy. He's actually co-authored a fantastic hockey strategy book that I own, probably the best out there. It's got amazing diagrams of all the various break-out choices etc. When he talked in the press conference today about the options wingers will have, that's what he means. And if you want to know more about his system, really understand what exactly puck possession means for him, that's a good place to start.He's willing to participate in objective looks at players. He touched on the W'hawks use of analytics as a way to get over the hump of the 'eyeball test.' I like this, and I think it's a departure from Bylsma, who I believe saw the statistics but never really put them into action. He's on board with getting an effective bottom-6, and Rutherford is going to help.He has a strong focus on two things (though not to the exclusion of other things, obviously): clean breakouts (zone exits) and effective zone entries (carrying the puck in). He will have defensemen make the stretch pass if it's available, but if it isn't they'll try to carry the puck in or otherwise adjust. That's a difference from Bylsma. Defensemen who can handle the puck well (in Portland, it was Derrick Pouliot) are encouraged to go the last few feet to carry the puck into the zone if they're pretty much already there. The risk of a carry-in is balanced out by the high reward of getting twice as many shots/twice as many goals by using that strategy.If you have any questions about his time in Portland, I'd be happy to offer my thoughts or link to media coverage/articles.<<

I like what I'm hearing.

I am very encouraged after reading this. Very.

Can you comment on his ability to adjust and adapt to what teams are doing vs his system? Vs certin oppenents or actual in game adjustments, or is he a stick to our system kind of guy? I have always been a "defence wins championships" thinker, this guy doesn't sound like what i was hoping for. But if Mario and JR trust him i give him my full support for now.

Can you comment on his ability to adjust and adapt to what teams are doing vs his system? Vs certin oppenents or actual in game adjustments, or is he a stick to our system kind of guy? I have always been a "defence wins championships" thinker, this guy doesn't sound like what i was hoping for. But if Mario and JR trust him i give him my full support for now.

I'm not the creator of the content, I was just posting what he said and a link. There are some of those questions answered on the thread on Reddit. Here is an answer to if he adjusts in game:>>Yes, he plays tricks, matches lines as needed, tries to isolate poor defense pairings. Sometimes he plays top competition against top competition and fourth lines against fourth line; during the WHL Final this year he let Edmonton put their top pairing against our top line to open up our highly skilled fourth line. So he has reasons for what he does for sure, he doesn't throw out lines willy nilly like Bylsma.<<

Here is what he said about PP and PK:

>>First PP is four forwards and an offensive defenseman, second is three forwards, offensive dman, and a more two-way dman with a heavy shot. As opposed to Letang being used just because he's an offensive defenseman, the dman's job is specifically to get the puck into the zone either by making the right pass or by carrying it in himself. Pouliot filled that role ever since his draft year--remember how he was toured as a powerplay specialist?--and will probably full it next season if not this one.Gaining the zone is one thing. Once it's in, everyone is a really active passer. Not the **** pp passes that cause people to yell shoot, but things like passing across the ice through the slot. That is a common high risk/high reward scenario. The dman and one other man the points, one player takes the entire left side of the ice, there's a guy up high by the net on the right and the forward with the best vision (imagine Sid there--for us it's Nic Petan) is on the right side half wall. He decides what happens or sometimes moves into the middle of the ice to pass to the guy by the net (James Neal?). A common play is to send it to the guy on the left (Malkin, I imagine) and then a cross-ice pass to net-guy (Neal) before anyone's gotten over. The objective changes, though. Sometimes it's to open up a defenseman. For example, this year we used Mat Dumba on the point with Pouliot during the playoffs and had them switch places to confuse the PKers, then Dumba was able to unleash his shot unblocked. PP was one of my favorite parts of Johnston's tenure. Very shifty, very adaptable to whatever team was being played, and given the players on the Pens there's no reason the same set-up shouldn't work in Pittsburgh.I'm afraid I can't really shed light on the PK. It's pretty much your typical set-up, to the extent that I know Pk strategies. Individual players are pretty aggressive at going out and getting after whoever has the puck, but that's all. I bet Martin will have lots more to do with that<<

You can ask him questions on Reddit too. I guess I could ask for the board if people want me to.

I heard parts of MJ's interview with Madden yesterday and MJ mentioned something to the effect about adjusting breakouts/style based on whether they playing a Philadelphia or a New York for example so game plans can vary by opponent. That was so nice to hear and not just a bang your head on the wall "get to our game" comment/mentality.

Biggest thing for me has been with both Johnstons and Rutherford's hiring PC's, both had no problems with, you know, the opinions of others. Both know not everything they think is right and they're happy to have people to bounce ideas off of. Even with the analytics, I think someone here mentioned that MJ said he was never into it, but he likes having an analytics guy now because it provides a prospective that you can't really see from the bench. We're definitely not just going to keep doing the same things over and over until they work because we're the Penguins and what we do is right. Very happy to hear that stuff

Jim wrote:Certain people faltered under DB and certain people flourished. How do people think that is going to change under MJ? Will anyone explode offensively or anyone that was producing before fall apart?

Young defensemen will definitely play better, knowing that one mistake won't put them in the press box for the next ten games.